Thursday, April 28, 2011

Buried in the depths of the May 2, 2011 issue of ESPN the Magazine ("The Money Issue") was an interesting chart of the best-paid athletes from 181 countries (no link).

Soccer claims the title of the most-represented sport, with basketball second, but baseball is third for paying the highest-paid athlete in 12 countries (including the USA, with Alex Rodriguez at an annual salary of $32M).

The Dodgers actually made the list twice: Vicente Padilla is the highest-paid athlete from Nicaragua ($2M annual salary), and Hong-Chih Kuo is the highest-paid athlete from Taiwan ($2.7M)*.

Also interesting is that of the 12 baseball representatives, only two are from the AL (besides A-Rod, there is Ichiro Suzuki representing Japan with an $18M annual salary). The Mets also are represented three times: Jason Bay (Canada, $18.1M), Carlos Beltran (Puerto Rico, $19.3M), and Johan Santana (Venezuela, $21.6M). (And look at what all that's getting the Mets.)

(If you want to get all political, one could cite that Yao Ming (China) dwarfs Kuo's salary (Yao is at $17.7M). But I'm staying away from this one.)

Jack Wilson: My personal stalker. We both grow up in LA a few miles apart. I move to Pittsburgh and a couple of months later, he gets traded to the Pirates. I move to Seattle and a couple months later, he gets traded to the Mariners.

I'm pretty sure if I moved to Hiroshima, he would sign with the Carp.

Then there is Jason Kendall. That jackass still owes me $40 for a steam cleaner rental to clean up his spilled beer at a party I threw in high school. My mom is still pissed about that stain.

1) establish an account on mlb.com2) open up gameday windows to "watch" games online3) for each game, three players from each team have been assigned specific (offensive) events. If one of those players does said event (e.g., single, home run, stolen base), and you are "watching", they will get a badge--which then appears in your badge case.

@Fred's Brim - I wasn't aware that there were any other countries in the world which officially recognises Puerto Rico as a sovereign nation.

And since Yao Ming isn't from Taiwan, it's clear that he wouldn't be the highest paid athlete from Taiwan. He would be the highest paid athlete from the People's Republic of China.

Hell, even the US, while it officially recognises PRC has the "official" China, does not go as far as to claim that Taiwan (Republic of China) is a part of China. So yes Steve Sax, you should not have went there.